Kate

I graduated from the MBA program at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, in May 2015. I love school, and I miss having it as a part of my life! By working with Varsity Tutors, I hope to help students of all ages reach their full academic potential in a variety of subjects. As an MBA grad, I am well versed in all business-related courses: economics, marketing, leadership and teamwork, accounting, even public speaking. I also have a strong background in Civics and Government, from when I received my Bachelor's Degree in Criminology and Justice Studies at The College of New Jersey. I minored in French and have been studying and learning the language since I was a child. Another strength of mine is paper and essay writing - I loved it when professors would assign a term paper instead of an exam as our midterm or final! I think college entrance essays, particularly, can be overwhelming and stressful to the student. I believe that by tackling them with a logical approach and a solid action plan, these essays do not have to be such a source of anxiety. I also have experience preparing students for entrance exams, such as the ISEE and the college-level ACCUPLACER, by teaching test-taking strategies and building confidence.

Sometimes, students need a bit of extra help in some subjects. I've greatly benefited from one-on-one tutors in the past, and gone on to excel in those subjects. My philosophy is that anyone can excel, if they are willing to put in the work to do so! The payoff is worth it!

What might you do in a typical first session with a student?

We would go over the student's goals - for example, are they not performing well and want to increase their grades? Are they finding the material difficult and want to reinforce what is being taught in the classroom to ensure they don't fall behind? Next, we would go over the material to get an idea of both strengths and potential areas of improvement.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

As someone who has had difficulty getting myself motivated when it comes to independent studying, I have experience with this! I've found the best way to inspire independent learning is a confidence boost. This could come through answering some practice problems correctly, getting a good grade on an assignment, or simply positive feedback from a teacher or tutor. Once a student gains confidence, he or she will feel much more equipped to study independently.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Seeing improvement is the best way to stay motivated!

If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?

First thing: take a step back. It's easy to feel frustrated or overwhelmed when having difficulty learning a concept. Next, we would look at the material from a very broad perspective, understanding the general ideas and concepts first. Only after the student understands the overarching concept would we get into the more specific and complex material.

How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?

Complex and verbose language can pose a huge challenge for a lot of readers. We'd start with some general ideas: what is the theme of the piece? What do you think the writer is trying to say? Then, we'd identify examples of how the author is demonstrating that theme - specific passages or sentences that reiterate the main idea. If a student is having trouble with reading comprehension due to the vocabulary, we'd take it passage by passage and identify difficult words by the context in which they are presented.

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